Carlton trio could be forced to quit

THREE former Carlton directors may have to quit the board of ITV - formed by a merger between Granada and Carlton - following their award of £27m to ex-Carlton chairman Michael Green and his colleagues.

The awards, which saw Green pick up £15.1m in severance pay and share options, were made on the recommendation of the Carlton remuneration committee, which was headed by Sir Brian Pitman and included John McGrath and Etienne de Villiers. All three are on the board of ITV.

The payments to the three directors add up to more than a quarter of the annual savings of £100m expected at ITV. Carlton merged with Granada to create ITV in a £5.8bn deal in January.

'The ex-Granada board members of ITV were staggered at the size of the payouts,' said a senior ITV source. 'The three ex-Carlton executives on the ITV board will come under pressure from shareholders over this. It is possible that this might force them to step down.'

Such a move would leave Granada executives in sole charge of ITV - effectively a takeover of Carlton.

There is particular anger among ITV's institutional shareholders. Because much of Green's pay-off was discretionary, they believe the Carlton board was needlessly generous.

Carlton's remuneration committee, backed by the full Carlton board, decided Green should receive part of his payment three years early.

A source close to the former Carlton remuneration committee said its members are unrepentant and compared the payouts to other beneficiaries of the merger.

'It is pretty small-minded for people to carp over £27m going to key executives when you are promising to deliver £100m in savings every year for the next ten years,' the source said.